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IN-PIT CRUSHING AND CONVEYING TECHNOLOGY (IPCC)

ABSTRACT

In-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) is generally applied in three configurations: fully
mobile, semi-mobile (including semi-fixed), and fixed.

In fully mobile systems, shovels/excavators, feed crushers, direct and trucks are
confined to a clean-up fleet. Crushers are mounted on tracks and move with shovels.
Connecting crushers to a main conveyor requires mobile belt wagons, mobile bridges
or link conveyors.

For semi-mobile IPCC systems, the crusher stations are located near the working
face, requiring small (in number) truck fleets shuttling between shovel/excavator
and crusher. Crushers can be relocated regularly to keep pace with an advancing face
(vertically or horizontally) or relocated strategically (e.g. once every 3–10 years).

In fixed IPCC systems, the crusher stations are away from the actual mining face,
often placed on or near the pit rim, leaving the trucks complete flexibility inside the
pit. Semi-mobile and fixed IPCC systems could be easily retro-fitted into existing
open pit operations without major redesign or rescheduling of the pit.

In-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) could gradually substitute most pit haul trucking
operations, but many mines delay conveyor installation beyond the ideal date for
change. In >85% of studies, comparing IPCC with truck-optimised pit designs,
conveying still generates large operating savings. Conveyors are much more capital
and energy efficient on large operations, cheaper to operate per tonne moved, and
require low technical maintenance. In-pit crushing also reduces haulage road
development and maintenance needs.

This paper deals essentially with aspects of conveying in IPC applications but the
underlying message is that the logic, reliability and capability of conveying to move
vast volumes of material can be successfully applied to function effectively inside the
mining pits, not just in processing plants.
INTRODUCTION
In surface mining, the operational costs for haulage alone may account for up to 50%
of total operating mining costs (Opex). The percentage of total capital invested for
haulage is even higher (road maintenance graders, water trucks, dozers, etc.) and is
said to be up to 60% of all mining capital expenditure (Capex). These figures vary
slightly from mine to mine and commodity to commodity, but one thing is clear:
transport is a major cost factor in mining, and every effort has to be taken to
optimise haulage, especially in modern mining operations where millions of tonnes
of different materials have to be moved in several directions using many methods.
Table 1 shows a textbook example of typical surface mining costs.
ost
 CAPEX $ Opex surface mine
Drilling/Blasting 1,3 10,8% Auxiliary 2
Loading 3,6 30,0% 6%
Haulage 7,1 59,2
Sum 12,0 100, Capital c
33%
OPEX $/ton Loading/Haulage
Capital cost 0,6 33,3 44%
Drilling/blasting 0,3 16,7 Drilling/blasting
Loading/Haulage 0,8 44,4 17%
Auxiliary 0,1 5,6
Mining costs 1,8 100,

Table 1. 1988 cost estimation of a 4,5 Mtpa surface mine. Capital cost @10% discount1
(SME Mining Engineering Handbook)

Why is transportation that expensive, and is there a way to decrease haulage costs?
To answer this, it is necessary to go back to basic physics.
E = mgh = 1000 kg * 9,8 m/s² * 1 m = 9,8 kJ = 2,72 Wh.

It is not possible to use less energy to lift something up on this planet. Converted
into money and assuming that one kWh of electrical energy costs about 0,07 US$,
this means lifting one tonne costs a minimum of 0,02 $-cents per metre, assuming
that any other losses are nil – which they are not. To move this mass by conveyor
requires knowledge of a whole host of data (including, but not limited to, speed, belt
type, length, gradient, idler and pulley configurations, material bulk density, etc.),
but at the end of the day the only extra weight it has to lift is parts of the belt itself.
Compared to this, minimum operating costs of lifting by a diesel engine driven
mining truck (with its own empty weight mass) at a fuel price of 1,1 US$/litre will be
more than double that of a conveyor.

The rising operating costs and declining commodity prices at most properties have
forced them to look at various alternatives to cut costs to stay competitive. Haulage
costs have been an area that have risen significantly with the increase of diesel prices.
One alternative to reduce haulage costs is to shorten the truck haul distance by bringing
the truck dump point into the pit. Using an in-pit movable crusher or crushers, and
conveying the ore and/or waste out of the pit can reduce the haul costs.

The potential effects of installing in-pit crushing and conveyor haulage on open pit
operations and on mine planning requirements can be significant. This article will
discuss the effects on pit geometry, operating strip ratio, and mine access requirements
when movable crushers and conveyors are brought into the pit. Most of the examples
and experiences are drawn from large base metal
pits. The concepts discussed here also apply to coal, precious metals, and industrial
minerals. Details of mechanical installations including belt widths, tensions, and
crusher sizes will not be discussed because that equipment will vary with production
requirements and many technical papers have recently discussed mechanical
installations.
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General thoughts regarding the method of evaluation of potential in-pit crushing and
conveying installations will also be offered. As a general rule, it should be
remembered that conveyor installations work especially well when large volumes of
material have to be moved from one single source to a single destination, particularly
when the destination is quite a bit higher than the source. Continually moving or
multiple sources coupled with continually moving or multiple destinations are not
necessarily the most natural or optimal situation for conveyor haulage.

The flow of material utilizing an in-pit movable crusher and conveyor system starts
with the trucked material being dumped into the feeder pocket. The material is
crushed and fed onto horizontal transfer belts in the pit or directly onto a major upslope
belt taking the material out of the pit. There may be more than one of either belt type
with transfers at each belt junction depending on the pit geometry and depth. Once the
material exits the pit, it must be conveyed to the plant facilities or dumps. Figure 1
shows a simplified movable crusher and conveyor system in plan view.

Crusher and Conveyor Geometrics and Specifications

The first step when evaluating the potential installation of movable conveyors and
crushers is to establish the geometric requirements of the installation being considered.
Simple as it sounds, establishing how big, how long, how high, and how wide, will take
at least a half a day to work out with a materials handling engineer, providing he has
been briefed on the anticipated hourly tonnage rate and expected belt profiles. The
mine planner with little background in conveyors will be surprised just how much room
the crushers, conveyors and
transfers occupy. Access to the belts and transfers must be assured for maintenance
as well as for removal of the drive stations when the system is moved. Often a series
of low tension belts will be used with minimal lift to deliver material from the in-pit
crushers to high tension-slope belts for the lift out of the pit. The limitations of both
types of installations must be well understood.

Movable crushers and feeder installations are offered by a wide range of

manufacturers and engineering houses. Each has their strengths and
weaknesses from a materials handling stand point. The mine planning engineer must
understand the geometry of the system and consider the flexibility of the installations
for modification. Some installations require that the feeder be placed within the bench
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above the crusher; the crusher product is delivered to the conveyor one bench below the
dumping elevation. Other crusher-feeder systems are flexible in the feeding geometry
such that the dumping elevation and the conveyor elevation can be the same, or
separated by a bench. In either system, it is critical to know the range of horizontal
angles that the feeder can deliver to the crusher and the range of angles that the
conveyor can receive material from the crusher. Rotations as small as 10 to 30 degrees
can often greatly simplify installation geometries and the material movement required
for installation. The truck maneuvering area at the dump pocket will depend on the
dumping geometry of the specific feeder, the truck size, and manufacturer. For haul
trucks up to 170 tons an area 200 ft by 200 ft must generally be maintained for turn,
spot, and dump.

One final item should be settled with the materials handling specialist before starting
planning. The operating schedule of crushers and belts and the peak or surge capacity
versus average capacity will be of necessity to him when detailing the system.
Materials handling equipment by nature are most efficient with a constant material
movement rate, consequently, design specifications are generally given in tons/hour.
Mining equipment capacity is generally discussed in tons/day or tons/shift. For
example, substantial variations in shovel tonnage may occur on an hourly basis, yet the
end of shift average can be very consistent from shift to shift. These fluctuations do
occur with a mill site crusher, however, there is generally a course ore stockpile
immediately downstream to smooth fluctuations in crusher output. The short exit belt
from a permanent crusher can be over designed to handle the surges from the crusher
without much additional capital expense. Movable in-pit crushing systems generally
deliver directly to a complete belt system and surges in crusher feed are transferred
directly as surges in the entire conveyor system. A trade off of design capacity in the
conveyor system must be worked out between the miner and the materials handling
engineer. As a starter, the mining engineer should estimate how many pieces of
loading equipment will deliver to a given crusher followed by a calculation of
maximum hourly production as if the shovels are truck covered. It may not be cost
effective to build the conveyor system to handle the extreme peak, but knowing the
fluctuations in mine throughput will help in setting the required operating range of the
materials handling system.

TYPES OF IPCC
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IPCC includes loading, crushing, conveying and dumping. Loading of the IPCC
installation is done by conventional shovels/excavators or by trucks. Crushing in
most cases only has the purpose of reducing the feed to conveyable size, which
means a maximum particle size smaller than 20% of the belt width and a maximum
of 350 mm-sized grains due to the high impact energy of bigger particles and the
interlocking of larger particles at conveyor transfer points, leading to potentially
massive blockages and associated downtime if larger than 350 mm. At the end of the
IPCC system, a spreader distributes the mined material to a dumping site or it is
directly fed onto a stock pile.
When designing an IPCC system, one of the important choices lies in selecting the
front end of the IPCC installation. Three primary types of IPCC should be looked at
here:
Fixed crusher within the IPCC system
Semi-mobile or semi-fixed crusher within the IPCC system
Fully mobile crusher within the IPCC system

The crushing station of a fixed IPCC system is usually situated at the pit rim, a
location not affected by mining, or outside the perimeter but fairly close to the pit.
This is very different to having a fixed ore crusher, which accepts run-of-mine
material at the front end of the processing plant. It is usually designed to last a
lifetime in a fixed location and is never be moved to another site. The overland
conveyor line which transports crushed material from a fixed crushing station is a
fixed installation as well. Between the crusher and the overland conveyor is a
favourable place to install a short belt conveyor – called a sacrificial conveyor – in
order to protect the long overland conveyor from damage caused by metal pieces
that passed through the crushing station. Mining trucks usually feed the crusher.
Figure 1 shows an example of a fixed crushing station.

Figure 1. Fixed crushing station

The idea of semi-mobile IPCC systems is to situate the primary crusher in the pit as
close as possible to the mining face. This enables the mining operator is to reduce
the number of trucks to a minimum, while retaining the fleet’s high flexibility level5.
Behind this lies the principle of reducing transported weight. A truck carries more
than 35% of its own weight. This is already a disadvantage on a flat plane but it
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becomes a costly problem when transporting up a ramp. With semi-mobile stations,

this can, to a large extent, be avoided as long as there is a suitable location in the
mine to place the crushing station for at least several months, preferably longer, to
about one to three years. After this period the entire station can be moved to
another location. This only takes a few days using a crawler, because of the modular
construction and the fact that usually no concrete foundations or other sophisticated
civil construction works are needed6,7.

As the crusher would then be situated in the pit, conveying strategies have to be
developed to transport crushed material out of the pit. Semi-mobile crushing
stations can be equipped with various crushers. Predominantly, roller crushers and
gyratory crushers are used. Jaw or impact crushers may also be used in smaller
capacity (<1000 t/h) crushing-plants. Currently, the maximum capacity of all crushing
plants is determined by the feed rate. The largest primary crushers are designed for
throughputs exceeding 10 000 metric tonnes per hour. The station’s hopper can be
fed by trucks from up to three sides simultaneously. However, the bottleneck is the
physical dumping time of the trucks according to traffic flow rules per any given hour
and is presently limited to a maximum throughput of 10 000 t/h. On the other hand,
it is easily possible to use one conveyor line to handle the output of more than two
semi-mobile crushing-stations at once. Figure 2 shows two of four semi-mobile
waste crushing stations at a lignite mine which process 5 500 t/h each.

Figure 2. Semi-mobile crushers feeding one overland conveyor

Fully mobile IPCC-systems consist of a crawler-mounted crushing station, usually fed

by a shovel. These stations can be equipped with a roller crusher or a jaw crusher.
The use of gyrators was not possible until recently, since the high horizontal forces
needed to be addressed. The crusher follows the shovel as the face advances and
therefore a movable conveyor segment connecting to a track-shiftable bench
conveyor is needed. In many applications a movable, self-levelling conveying bridge
is advantageous as it is lighter in weight and tracked at each end, giving greater
flexibility than a belt wagon. A fully mobile system completely eliminates the need
for mining trucks and therefore has a much greater potential to lower the
operational costs over the other two types of IPCC systems. The key to success in
IPCC is following the mine plan, and accepting that IPCC is not as flexible as trucking,
but that operational costs could be halved. The bottleneck of fully mobile stations is
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the shovel’s performance. Here the maximum capacity in the near future will be an
electric rope shovel with a maximum bucket volume of 70,3 m³ and 120 t of
payload8. This shovel is expected to realise a long-term average loading performance
of about 9 000 t/h.

Fully mobile systems can be used in different ways which have to be determined in
advance by the mining plan. When using a conveying bridge together with a fully
mobile station, up to three benches can be mined out before the bench conveyor
has to be moved. This ability substantially increases effective operational hours of
use since the bench conveyor requires less track shifting. All primary equipment used
in a fully mobile IPCC operation is electrically driven (crushers, conveyors and
discharging devices), thus reducing CO2 production and increasing the power
efficiency. Figure 3 shows a fully mobile station equipped with a roll crusher
processing onto a belt bridge that is linked to a track-shiftable bench conveyor.

Figure 3. PF300 fully mobile crushing system consisting of a loading shovel, the mobile
crusher, a belt bridge and a track-shiftable bench conveyor

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CONVEYING – DIRECT GEARLESS DRIVES

In the past, high torques at relatively low speed forced mining systems suppliers to
use gear boxes to drive conveyors. Gearless drives are a new alternative and an
attractive solution for conveyors with higher power requirements. Due to its
“simple” construction, a gearless drive system has very high availability, robustness,
reduced operating and maintenance costs and reduced noise, whilst still offering the
benefits of a variable speed drive.

Direct gearless drives consist of a slow running synchronous electric motor coupled
onto the drive shaft of the conveyor pulley, a mechanical safety brake and a
frequency converter. Hence there are no transmission ratios, gear bearings, fluid
couplings and other mechanical parts that can wear out. In case of downwards
conveying, the use of direct drive technology easily enables operators to regenerate
and provide electrical energy to the local grid, contributing to even lower operational
costs. Figure 7 shows the principle of direct gearless drive technology.
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Figure 7. Principle of direct gearless drive

technology
(Courtesy: ABB)

Currently there is only one large gearless drive in the field that has been
operating for longer than one year. This is a conveyor drive at the Prosper-Haniel
coal mine in Germany which was installed in 1985. Several more projects are
however, soon to be completed.

Gear reducers that have traditionally been used to drive conveyors are reaching
their physical limits for demanding applications, such as steep angle or high
capacity installations. At present, a modern conveyor system with a total
drive power demand of 15 000 kW or more would require over six traditional
gear reducer drives, each equipped with >2 000 kW motors. The traditional gear
reducer solution has the disadvantage of reduced overall availability associated
with the large number of mechanical components (bearings for each of the
gear boxes), which result in a smaller Mean-Time-Between-Failures (MTBF).
Furthermore, gearless drives reduce maintenance costs and reduce efficiency
losses caused by gear boxes, making them
intrinsically more reliable10. The actual limit of gearless drives are defined by
the
belts currently being fabricated at a minimum breaking strength (i.e.
ST10000).

The turnover point for the economically reasonable implementation of gearless

drives is said to be at about 3 000 kW. Mining companies are striving to reduce
energy consumption, CO2 emissions and increase system reliability. Gearless drives
meet these requirements by significantly reducing the number of mechanical
components, such as gears, bearings and couplings. The environmental footprint of a
gearless drive installation is approximately one third of a conventional geared
system.
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Two main sources of losses in haulage can be identified: Here they are called “tare”
and “drag”.

Tare is the additional weight of the equipment/machinery required to move the metric
tonne vertically by one metre. Drag is the additional force that acts against this
transportation like friction, inertia and counter-induction. In addition, a combustion engine
can only transfer <50% of the chemical potential energy stored in fuel into mechanical
energy, with mining trucks accounting for only an estimated
25–35%4. In the case of trucks, this small amount of converted energy then has to
bear further drive train losses before moving the actual tyre which then encounters the road
surface drag items above.

The task in engineering is to find a way of transportation as close to the physics limit shown
above as possible. Reducing tare can be done in two ways. One is to find structures or
materials that are very light, the other possibility is to utilise the transport vessel more
efficiently.
System Components
All crushing and conveying systems are composed of discrete components connected in series. Many of these
components come from bucketwheel excavator systems used in brown coal mining in throughout the world.
The key system components are:
Crusher – Crushers may be fixed, semi-mobile or fully mobile. Fixed crusher installations have little
application within the pit since they cannot follow the mining face. Semi-mobile crushers are loaded
by trucks and generally require a dump pocket to be developed. Relocation is generally in sections
using a crawler transporter. To minimise the cost of earthworks construction and maximise
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productive time, the interval between relocations should be as large as possible. Mobile crushers are
generally mounted on crawlers and can relocate rapidly enough to be fed directly by the loading unit,
thereby negating the need for trucks.

Mobile crushers were originally developed for quarries, where the product required crushing.
Throughputs were generally lower than 1,000 tph and the crushers employed were hammer, impact, or
occasionally double rolls. The propulsion mechanisms were rubber tyres, crawlers, or hydraulic walking
feet for larger crushers. For larger crushers in harder rock, gyratory or jaw crushers were required.
High capacity mobile crushers (up to 12,000 tph) are now possible due to the development of high
capacity sizers, double roll crushers and hybrid crushers (Tutton and Streck, 2009). These have lower
vibration and are amenable to use in a mobile crusher mounted on crawlers.

Beltwagons and Bridge Conveyors – These are used to provide a flexible connection between the
crusher and the moveable components of the conveyor system. They can allow a greater block width,
increased separation between blasting and the conveyor line, and additional benches extracted from the
one moveable conveyor location.

These come in varying designs depending on the application. Beltwagons may be dual or single belt, luffable
and slewable for maximum flexibility in negotiating bench changes. Longer boom lengths are required for
greater elevation changes. Fixed single belt beltwagons are less flexible and allow an increased block width.
Conveyor bridges are less mobile than beltwagons, having two sets of crawlers. They do, however, come at a
significant cost reduction Figure 3 – Variations in Beltwagon / Conveyor Bridge Weight with Boom Length and
Capacity. A bridge conveyor able to negotiate a given bench height can be a quarter the cost of an equivalent
beltwagon.

Relocatable Conveyors – Relocatable conveyors are less flexible and less costly than bridge conveyors. They
may be crawler, rubber tyre or skid mounted, with a number of units being required in series to
negotiate the distance from the beltwagon to the main conveyor. Relocation and system delays, due to
the number of conveyor transfers, are a key drawback to this equipment ( Tutton and Streck, 2009).
Piggyback conveyors are more common in smaller capacity systems.

Shiftable Conveyors – Conveyor segments mounted on sleepers connected by rail can be readily
shifted using bulldozers with a track shifting head. The drivehead is most commonly mounted on
pontoons and relocated with the assistance of a transporter. Shiftable conveyors are used for long,
straight dig or dump faces, relocated at regular intervals.

Hopper Car and Cable Reeler – Is necessary in a fully mobile crushing system to allow feed to be placed
on the shiftable conveyor at any point along its length. This unit commonly comes with a cable reel car
to handle power cable and other systems.

Overland Conveyor – Significant advances have been made in overland conveyor design in the areas of
optimisation, implementation of curved conveyors, noise reduction and dust reduction. Conveyors
represent the heart of the system and give major improvements over truck transportation necessary for
the future of deep open cut mining in the Hunter.
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Tripper – A tripper is necessary to remove the overburden at any point from a shiftable dump conveyor.
It may be rail or crawler mounted and can incorporate a discharge conveyor to allow more flexibility for
the spreader. The tripper can also incorporate a belt take-up and dump conveyor drive.

Spreader – Spreaders come in a wide variety of designs depending on the nature of the overburden handled,
geotechnical requirements, throughput rate and the desired block width between moves. Figure 4 – Variations
in Spreader Weight with Discharge Boom Length and Capacity gives an indication of the variation of spreader
weights with boom length, capacity and design.
Maintenance Requirements
Plants must be designed for ease of access and maintainability if they are to meet their production
goals. Keeping maintenance requirements to a minimum helps achieve higher overall operating
availability.
Scheduled preventive maintenance at crushing plants involves a number of elements,
including:

• Crusher wear parts • Screen decks

• Feeder wear parts • Conveyor skirting and adjustment
• Oil and lubrication • Conveyor belt repair
• Visual inspections • Electrical and instrumentation adjustments.

Provisions must be made for overhead cranes to remove and replace crusher wear parts.
Supports must be provided for gyratory and conveyor main shafts and laydown space for the cone
crusher bowls is essential. Some operators carry a complete spare screen and change out for major
screen maintenance. Trolleys, jib cranes and pull points should be designed to facilitate equipment
maintenance. Oil and lubrication systems should be centralized and designed for easy automatic
changes, with provisions for well-ventilated centralized lubrication rooms where possible. (e.g., a
line of fine cone crushers should have a central oil receiving area, with piping to and from each
crusher lube package for quick and easy oil changes.)
Conveyor head chutes should be designed for easy access (not just through an inspection
door, but through a man door in the chute). Conveyor belt change areas should be provided.
Maintenance personnel should have easy visual and rapid access to screen decks for panel
replacement.
Designers should work with the screen manufacturers to ensure that covers provide good
access for working on screens. Screening facilities must meet rigid dust emission requirements,
but many off-the-shelf screen dust covers have not kept pace with these requirements. It may be
necessary to custom-design covers that minimize emissions and provide easy access to the screen.
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Climatic Conditions
Building for cold-weather operations is very challenging, as is designing a plant in a desert
environment. This is particularly true when year-round operation is required. Seasonal variations
can change ore moisture content, so the crushing plant must be adaptable to changes in the
material flow characteristics. Higher moisture requires greater angles of withdrawal, and stone-
boxes must be designed to avoid plugging. The crushing plant equipment itself must be adjustable
to climatic changes; for example, screen decks must be designed to maintain production, possibly
by using wire mesh during the wet season and plastic during the dry. (Vary screen deck types
dependent on seasons and material characteristics to achieve maximum passing through deck
openings.
Climate also dictates the type of plant enclosures required as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Many
crushers in milder weather climates or desert areas are installed with an open face and have no
enclosures at all.
Figure 1 Teck Cominco, Red Dog Operations, Alaska

Figure 2 Teck Cominco, Red Dog Operations, Alaska - 42” x 65” gyratory
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PROCESS DESIGN CRITERIA

Design Criteria Information

Typically, the information required to develop crusher process design criteria includes:

• Geographic data • Climatic data

• Civil design criteria • Process design data (process description, ore
• Structural design criteria characteristics)
• Mechanical design criteria • Electrical/instrumentation design criteria.

Flowsheet
Some sample flowsheets are provided in Figures 3, 4, and 5 showing crusher circuits. Figure 6
shows a typical three stage closed crushing circuit with its ancillary equipment.

PRIMARY
CRUSHER

COARSE ORE
STOCKPILE

CLOSED
DOUBLE DECK
CIRCUIT
SCREEN

SECONDARY
CONE CRUSHER

OPEN CIRCUIT
PRODUCT

Figure 3 Two stage open/closed circuit

PRIMARY
CRUSHER

COARSE ORE 3 STAGE

STOCKPILE CLOSED
CIRCUIT

DOUBLE DECK DOUBLE DECK

DOUBLE DECK SCREEN SCREEN
SCREEN

TERTIARY TERTIARY
SECONDARY CONE CONE
CONE CRUSHER CRUSHER CRUSHER

OPEN OPEN
CIRCUIT CIRCUIT

PRODUCT

Figure 4 Three stage open/closed circuit

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PRIMARY
CRUSHER

COARSE ORE
STOCKPILE

DOUBLE DECK
DOUBLE DECK SCREEN
DOUBLE DECK SCREENS
SCREEN

IMPACT
SECONDARY CRUSHER
CONE TERTIARY
CRUSHER CONE
CRUSHERS

PRODUCT
PRIMARY SECONDARY TERTIARY QUATERNARY

OPEN CLOSED

Figure 5 Four stage crushing circuit

EQUIPMENT SELECTION

Crusher Types
The choice of crusher depends on the type and amount of material to be crushed. Gyratory and jaw
crushers represent the bulk of primary crushers used at mining operations today, although some
operations use roll impact crushers, low-speed roll sizers and feeder breakers. Cone crushers
remain the most popular for fine crushing applications, although some mines use vertical impact
crushers for tertiary and quaternary crushing.

Major Equipment
The major equipment in a primary crushing circuit usually includes only a crusher, feeder and
conveyor. Secondary and tertiary crushing circuits have the same basic equipment items, along
with screens and surge storage bins.

Additional and Optional Equipment

Other equipment items in crushing circuits can include:

• Rock breaker • Apron feeder to the primary crusher

• Overhead crane • Dust collection/suppression system
• Freight elevator • Eccentric trolley removal cart
• Service air compressor • Man-lift elevator
• Sump pumps • Air cannons
• Air vacuum clean up systems • Water booster pumps
• Rock grapple • Service trolleys
• Conveyor belt magnets • Conveyor gravity take-up service winch
• Conveyor belt metal detectors • Conveyor belt rip detector
• Belt monitoring systems • Conveyor belt weigh scales
• Belt feeders • Vibratory feeders
• Screw feeders • Lime/cement silos
• Bin ventilators • Sampling stations.
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Figure 6 Three stage crushing closed circuit

FINE CRUSHING (Secondary, Tertiary and Quaternary)

Fine crushing circuits can be more challenging to design than primary crusher installations. There
are more equipment options, and each has different installation and maintenance requirements.
The process flowsheet dictates the expected performance of the items in the flow stream. The
designer must configure the equipment and structures into a balanced, economical plant design.
Screens, feeders, stockpiles, bins, conveyors and crushers must all be interfaced with the most
economical supporting structures and buildings.
An open-circuit crusher is easier to design and lay out than a closed-circuit design, since it has
fewer equipment items and structures. Figures 13, 14, and 15 show some typical secondary
crusher open circuit layouts. Figure 16 shows some typical open circuit secondary and tertiary
crushers. Provisions should be made for possible future conversion of an open-circuit plant to a
closed-circuit version.
Cone crushers remain the choice for most secondary and tertiary operations, with some
gyradisc and vertical-impact crushers also utilized on certain ore types. Water-flush cone crushers
have been introduced in secondary and tertiary installation, which requires careful design of the
water systems to and from the crusher.
Most open-circuit secondary and tertiary crushers include scalping screens to remove fine
material prior to the secondary crushers. Closed-circuit crushers use tertiary screens to control the
final product size. (See Figure 17 and 18 for typical closed circuit secondary and tertiary crushers.)
In some larger installations, the secondary and tertiary crushers are located in one plant area and
the screens in another. (See Figure 18f.) Crushers and screens in these plants have common bins
feeding to the multiple crushers or screens. Most plants now have the screen feeding the fine
crusher, providing for easier access to service the screens.
As with primary crushers, fine crushers must meet the design parameters listed above. Design
details that are helpful to fine crusher plant layout area listed in the sections that follow.
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Screens

• Screens are being manufactured wider so the feed must have more height to allow the
material to spread out across the width of the screen.
• The chute feeding the screen should have easy man-access for replacement of liners and
easy removal of material build-up.
• Most screen installations should be totally enclosed. Screen manufacturers have yet to
develop a cover that allows for ease of maintenance and access.
• Adequate platforms should be provided for access around the entire screen, to facilitate
rapid inspection and changing of screen decks.
• The discharge chute from the screen should seal against the screen, and be designed as
one piece for ease of removal. When the chute is removed, there should be sufficient
opening in the floor to lift out the crusher bowl and head.
• The discharge chute should have a full man-door.
• Permanent floodlighting should be installed inside the chute for ease of inspection.

Crushers

• Some cone crushers require servicing and removal of components from the bottom. The
design and layout should allow for such service requirements.
• There have been many changes recently in the manufacture of cone crushers. A careful
assessment of each suppliers’ requirements for lubrication, water and air services to the
crusher is mandatory.
• Automatic bowl adjustment is now common on most cone crushers and is definitely
going to be used for on-stream electronic control adjustment to maximize input and
product size control.

Tertiary Feed Bins

• Most manufacturers ask for controlled ore feed rate to their tertiary crushers. The
secondary crushed material (and in the case of a closed circuit, the recirculated material)
is usually stored in a bin, and fed to the tertiary screen or directly to the crusher with a
variable speed feeder. (See Figure 19.)
• When the feed comes from a bin via a feeder directly to a crusher, the feeder design
should be retractable so that the tertiary crusher head and bowl may be removed by a
service crane.
• Feed to the tertiary feed bins is dependent on the number of crushers being fed. A single
point discharge will be adequate with three crushers, although feed distribution is not
good. Five crushers can be fed with a two point feed discharge system, with the main
feed conveyor feeding directly to the bin or using a flop gate to a fixed horizontal
conveyor to feed to the other discharge point (or a tripper conveyor can be utilized) See
Figures 18d, 18e and 18f.

Feeders from a Tertiary Bin

• A belt feeder will maximize live volume in the bin

• Vibratory feeder/magnetic/mechanical is less expensive but provides less live storage in
the bin.
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Lubrication

• Some lubrication systems are mounted on skids which can be as large as large as
4 x 2.4 m (12 x 8 ft), therefore sufficient access space must be provided.
• Other fine crusher lubrication considerations are the same as for primary crushers.

Maintenance Items

• Pull points should be located in a manner that provide maximum assistance for
equipment maintenance.
• If an overhead crane is provided, it should be able to service all main equipment items.
For crushers without building enclosures, a modified gantry crane or mobile crane can be
used.
• A man-elevator is always useful in large crushing and screening plants, and is a necessity
in very large capacity plants.

• Service air and water stations should be located throughout the plant. Include the hoses
and nozzles at predetermined wash-down stations.
• Adequate water pressure should be provided for wash-down and cleaning of all areas of
the plant.
• Allowance of adequate working width on each side of the lower-floor conveyors, and
sufficient clearance under conveyors for easy cleaning
• Man-doors should be provided on all chutes for maintenance and replacement of wear
parts. Inspection doors should not be used to provide access for wear plate replacement
and unplugging of chutes.
• Clean-up chutes should be provided at various levels, to enable spilled material to be
passed to a receiving conveyor at the lower levels.

Conveyors

• Conveyor design considerations for fine crushing circuits are the same as for primary
crushers.

Electrical

• Locate the electrical/MCC room centrally to minimize long cable runs.

• Electrical cable tray routing and orientation is critical and should be reviewed by
mechanical process personnel. Vertical trays are preferred to horizontal (vertical trays
allow no collection of spilled material in tray)
• Allow for plenty of lighting in all areas of a plant, including inside chutes and bins.

Dust collection/Suppression

• There are many choices for dust collection/suppression systems, including bag filters,
scrubbers, cartridge collectors, surfactants, water sprays and sonic fog. Whether one
system or a combination is selected, care must be taken to provide service access.
• Control, lube, compressor and electrical rooms should all be well-ventilated.
• Bin air/dust evacuators are required.
• In cold climates, determine whether dust-collector air must be preheated.
• A collector fan silencer should be considered, as fan noise can be deleterious in closed
areas.
• If an air system is selected for crusher-oil cooling, it will require venting and hot-air
evacuation.
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